Republic Square, 13501 Katy Freeway, Houston: Built in 1994 and located at I-10 and Memorial Drive next to Terry Hershey Park, 20 miles west of downtown Houston, Republic Square is a three-story, 301,311-square-foot office building offering large floor plates, direct elevator access to offices and a range of green space, including interior courtyards and 21 miles of lakeside walking and biking trails. A large, open lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooks a lake.
Dart acquired the building, the former Exxon Chemical headquarters, in 2014 and spent the subsequent period renovating it. Dart replaced all building mechanicals, refurbished restrooms and 20,000 square feet of executive space, and added a new cafe, conference room and fitness center with locker room and shower. It also updated all landscaping and the trail and lake system.
Republic Square can accommodate smaller and larger tenants and offers easy access to the William P. Hobby Airport. Current tenants include GATE Energy, Sparkhound and Samsung.
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. (July 15, 2022) — Hiffman National, a leading commercial property management firm, announced today it has been retained by Dallas-based Dart Interests to manage two of its commercial properties in Texas totaling 1.75 million square feet. The assets include Republic Square, a 300,000-square-foot Class A office building on 35 wooded acres at 13501 Katy Freeway in Houston’s Energy Corridor; and 2200 South Business 45, a 1.45 million-square-foot industrial building in Corsicana, Texas, 60 miles south of Dallas.
Hiffman National, which started as a division of NAI Hiffman and, in 2021, began operating as a separate company offering commercial property management services nationwide, is a multi-year winner of the Property Management Firm of the Year award from the National Association for Industrial and Office Property (NAIOP) and other industry recognitions. It will provide each property with day-to-day operational oversight, tenant service, rent collection, property accounting, financial reporting, maintenance, engineering and capital improvement oversight to maximize the financial performance of each property.
Dart Interests, a national real estate investment and development firm with more than $1 billion in residential, commercial and resort properties in New York, California, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., and Texas, already partners with Hiffman National on the management of three industrial buildings at Maple Centre in the Inland Empire in Corona, Calif.
“Hiffman National understands Dart’s vision for developing institutional investment-quality commercial properties,” said Jon Herbster, vice president of Dart Interests. “Their proven client-service approach offers our properties a competitive advantage. They bring a like-minded, collaborative asset management approach to our project leasing teams to help attract and satisfy our tenant base, which in turn allows our assets to stand out in the markets in which we operate. Their ability to scale their service consistently and yet tailor their platform for each property’s needs was crucial to the expansion of our relationship.”
“Dart Interests has an incredible track record of transforming residential, commercial and hospitality environments nationwide into investment-grade properties through the unique lens of their visionary leadership,” said Jim Tainter, senior vice president – Sun Belt region for Hiffman National. “We bring an owner’s perspective to a property’s operations that collaboratively enhances project leasing efforts, thereby attracting and retaining tenants. That’s particularly crucial in many office markets, where post-COVID vacancy rates remain high. In Houston, where vacancies are approaching 27% for office buildings, landlords are prioritizing nicely refurbished space with amenities and hospitality-level service that makes tenants’ employees want to come to work every day. Dart Interests has adopted this strategy by partnering with Class A property management partners who can deliver on all ownership objectives.”
2200 South Business 45, Corsicana, Texas: Built in 1981 and acquired and renovated by Dart in 2018, 2200 South Business 45 is a former Home Depot distribution center with 1,453,620 rentable square feet – expandable to 2 million square feet – including 13,248 square feet of modern office space featuring private offices, a conference room, data processing room, cafeteria and first aid station.
Features include 92 dock doors and two drive-in ramps, parking for 560 cars and 1,130 trailers, and Union Pacific rail access. The property offers easy access to I-45 and State Highway 31 for travel to Dallas/Fort Worth and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.